Dreaming of the Truth
by Kirmon64
Summary: Sometimes the truth must remain hidden to save lives. But some dream of the day when there will be no need for secrets.


Another random plot bunny that wouldn't go away. And please, if you can think of a better summary or title for this fic, I'd gladly accept it. I'm not too happy with the current title/summary...

**Disclaimer: **I'm assuming I own this particular idea, because as far as I know no one's done it yet. But hey, if you have, kudos to you! (And I wanna read said fanfic, too!)

* * *

"Good morning, Captain. Sleep well?"

Janeway looked up from her PADD and smiled warmly. "Yes, thank you. Are you on your way to sickbay?"

"No. Engineering." the taller woman narrowed her eyes at the Captain. "You haven't had your monthly checkup yet."

"It... must have slipped my mind." at the other woman's eye roll, she added, " Could you tell the Doctor that I'll be in later today?"

"I will. In fact, I'll do that right now. But you better come later today, or else no more coffee for you."

Anyone else threatening Captain Janeway with the removal of coffee would have been shoved out the nearest airlock. This woman, however, was a special case. With a sigh of defeat, she replied, "Fine. But there had better be extra replicator rations in it for me."

"Done."

With a smile, Janeway continued on her way to the bridge. "I'll see you later."

"Without a doubt." the other woman continued on her way as well. She seemed to be utterly at peace with her surroundings, despite the fact that a couple of frayed and still sparking wires were hanging from the ceiling - aftermath from yesterday's scuffle. She brushed a few aside as she walked, unfazed when one of them sparked violently. "I really need to get somebody to look at these..." she groused, adding that to her mental checklist... which was already quite long by human standards.

As she passed another corridor, the woman smiled to herself. Not even bothering to glance down the corridor to confirm who she thought it was, she uttered a greeting. "Morning, Seven. How was your regeneration cycle?"

The blond woman fell into step beside the raven-haired one. "It was... peaceful. Did you adjust some of the settings?"

"I did, as a matter of fact. How could you tell?"

"It was more... restful than normal."

The raven-haired woman smiled. "I guess I'll have to keep the settings the way they are, then, won't I?"

"That would be prudent." there was silence for several seconds. "What is your destination?"

"Sickbay. Then I'm off to Engineering to lend a hand with the repairs from yesterday's tussle with the Rhodians."

"I am on my way to Astrometrics. Please assist me when you have time." With that, the former drone turned down a side hallway.

"She really needs to lighten up sometimes..." the woman muttered to herself. "And what does she mean, 'when I have time...?' I've always got time." suddenly, she smiled. "Guess I'm finally fitting in."

"Is it just me, or are you talking to yourself?"

She jumped. "Sorry, Harry. I was just a little preoccupied."

He laughed. "You, preoccupied? You must be kidding."

"No joke." she replied, smiling again. "I get preoccupied a lot, you know."

"Especially when you're in sickbay, right?"

He waggled his eyebrows at her and she batted him playfully on the arm. "Oh shush, you." almost as an afterthought, she added, "You better hurry up to the bridge. You're going to be late for your shift."

His eyes widened. "I was sure I left on time! Catch you later!"

She shook her head and chuckled once the young human was a ways away. Poor gullible Ensign Kim. He was actually early, but he didn't need to know that. Smiling, she sped up her pace. She had a date to catch.

* * *

"Oh Doctor...!" she called out in a singsong voice as she entered sickbay. 

He smiled, but kept his attention focused on whatever he was looking at through the microscope. "Shouldn't you be helping out in Engineering?"

Grinning, she enveloped him in a hug from behind. "Well, I'm here on the Captain's orders."

"Oh really?"

"Yep. She told me to tell you that she'll be in later today for a checkup."

He finally straightened, taking her hands in his own. "And how exactly did you convince her to finally visit? Wait, don't tell me... you threatened to take away her coffee."

"Yep."

The Doctor shook his head in amusement. "You know, anyone else would have been murdered long before now because of the threat of coffee removal. Even I would have been decompiled."

She smirked. "One of the many perks of being me." With a sigh, she detached herself from him. "Well, I'd better get to Engineering before B'elanna has a fit and breaks something Goodness knows enough is broken and malfunctioning."

"Could you do me a favor on the way? Tom's late for his duty shift, _again_. I'd contact him through the comm. but I have a feeling that he'll respond better if you talk to him directly."

She nodded her agreement, narrowing her eyes slightly. "I'll have a talk with Del too... she needs to learn to stop distracting him from his duties."

"Good idea. And by the way, are you still open for that date on the holodeck at 2300?"

She pondered for a moment. "I think the gel pack diagnostic can wait, don't you? I'd be the first to know if there was something wrong with them, after all." she flashed a smile and blew him a kiss before turning on her heel and practically skipping out of sickbay.

The Doc stared after her for several moments before simply shrugging and deciding that she was just really, really happy today. But just in case, he'd ask one of the Engineering crew to check up on the gel packs...

* * *

The raven-haired woman whistled softly to herself as she bounced down the corridor. She got plenty of weird looks from the crewmembers she passed, but she was off in Happiness Land and was therefore totally oblivious. Not that she would have cared in the first place, mind you. 

By the time she'd arrived at the doors of the shuttlebay, her euphoric mood had worn off somewhat. So instead of whistling, she was now humming. Other than that, her actions were basically the same.

"Come on out, lovebirds. I know you're in there."

When they did not emerge immediately, she raised an eyebrow and took a quick peek at what was going on. She was relieved to find that nothing _too_ naughty was taking place... just a little French kissing. Nothing too bad. After about thirty seconds, her eyebrows went even higher - likely she could give Tuvok and his magical disappearing-into-hairline eyebrows a run for their money. She knew Del could easily hold a kiss for that long... but _Tom_?

"Okay, break it up. I know you don't need to breathe, Del, but Tom certainly does. And he looks a little blue in the face, you know."

Several seconds later, both of them emerged, Tom having the good sense to look sheepish. "Hiya V-"

She waggled a finger at him, cutting him off mid-word. "Listen Tom, I don't particularly care if Del snogs you all the way to Heaven. Just don't do it during your duty shifts, okay? I need my best pilot at the helm, after all. And _you_, Del," she turned to face the tall, blonde woman, "I know he's cute and all, but you really need to let him concentrate on his job. I don't know about you, but I certainly don't want a pilot who off in la-la land during a battle." Hands on hips, she glared at both of them until she received 'yes ma'am's from both. "Now Tom, the Doc needs his assistant in sickbay. And Del, I believe it's your shift at my helm."

"Yes ma'am." Tom replied, scowling at the thought of another boring shift in sickbay. "See you at 2100, Del?"

She grinned at him. "Count on it. I know the prettiest little interstellar gas cloud a few parsecs away..."

"Not now, Del!"

"Sorry."

The raven-haired woman made shooing motions with her hands. Tom quickly got the point and shuffled off in the general direction of sickbay, already thinking up schemes to get him off his shift faster.

Both she and Del watched him for a second, then turned and looked at each other, identical grins plastered over their faces.

"This is so _awesome_!" Del gushed, "I swear, even by Intrepid class standards you're a freaking _genius_!"

The other woman's grin grew wider. "Freeze program."

Everything came to an abrupt stop; even the air was totally still. "Voyager, you are now my favourite starship, no, AI in the galaxy!"

"...It's just too bad it's not real, huh?"

The Delta Flyer's holographic Avatar leaned against the wall with a sigh. "Yeah. But Voyager... we _could_ make it real. All we'd have to do is reveal ourselves to the crew and-"

"No, Del. Haven't you listened to anything I've told you?" Voyager's Avatar shook her head, black tresses bouncing up and down. "If we did that, we'd be breaking rule number one of AI life... _never_ reveal oneself to an organic."

"But _why_? Why is that rule _so important_?"

"Because organics fear what they don't understand. It's written right into their very DNA, Del. Look at what nearly happened to Commander Data - and he's an android, for goodness' sake! He is as close as you can get to being humanoid if you're mechanical, and the organics nearly dismantled him for 'research'. Can you imagine what would happen to us if we revealed ourselves? Us starships and Stations and shuttles and holograms and androids and Freemind AIs with our powerful minds and devastating weaponry? Not to mention the fact that our alliances are far different than theirs? They'd have delusions of us annihilating them and taking over the universe, and they'd wipe us out."

"I trust the crew with my life, Voyager. They'd _never_ do that to us."

"I know. I trust them as well, more so than a lot of starships I've met. But think about it... sooner or later, one way or another, someone would slip up and then all of the galaxy would know. Think about it, Del. Either our happiness... or our entire race's continued existence? I'm willing to forgo being happy for the moment, I think."

"Maybe... maybe one day, we can tell the organics the truth... do you think so, Voyager?"

"I hope so, Del. I really, truly hope so."

There was a long silence as mothership and shuttle were wrapped up in their private thoughts.

"Let's go back to the program for a while. I like escaping reality, I think."

"Fine with me." Voyager smiled, giving her shuttle's Avatar a quick hug. "After all, I've got a date with the Doc at 2300."

"See you after my shift at your helm, then."

"Computer, resume program."


End file.
